This article was published in Building Approvals, Australia (Cat. no 8731.0) Dec, 2002

INTRODUCTION

This article examines changes in residential development over the last fifteen years in inner areas of selected Australian capital cities. The data presented on dwellings approved were obtained from the Building Approvals Collection. Data on the stock of dwellings and population were obtained from the Census of Population and Housing of 1991 and 2001.

Building approvals data show a trend of growth in building approvals for residential dwellings in inner city areas of many Australian cities. In Inner Sydney, approvals for residential dwellings were below 6% of all residential approvals in the Sydney Statistical Division for the five year period between 1987 and 1992. In 1992-1993, the proportion of all dwellings in the inner city to the capital city rose to 9.7%. This growth in residential approvals is sustained through to 2001-2002 where residential approvals totalled 5,120 in Inner Sydney, 16% of approvals for Sydney as a whole.

DWELLING APPROVALS IN INNER CITY AND CAPITAL CITY

Inner Sydney

Capital Sydney

Proportion

(no.)

(no.)

%

1987-1988

642

27,131

2.4

1988-1989

898

26,877

3.3

1989-1990

584

19,702

3.0

1990-1991

976

18,762

5.2

1991-1992

338

21,606

1.6

1992-1993

2,586

26,705

9.7

1993-1994

2,361

29,038

8.1

1994-1995

4,730

33,661

14.1

1995-1996

3,454

27,226

12.7

1996-1997

4,853

32,223

15.1

1997-1998

4,419

35,809

12.3

1998-1999

3,784

35,766

10.6

1999-2000

3,506

33,547

10.5

2000-2001

2,851

22,560

12.6

2001-2002

5,120

31,865

16.1

The growth in approvals for residential dwellings is also evident in Inner Melbourne where approvals were 1% or less of all residential approvals in the Melbourne Statistical Division until 1992-93. This rose to 5% in 1993-94, and has generally risen in later years to just over 10% in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

While approvals for residential dwellings in Inner Brisbane show greater fluctuation, growth in approvals in the inner areas increased in comparison to the Brisbane Statistical Division since 1994-1995,with more sustained growth evident in the last 3 years. In 2001-2002, 14% of residential approvals in the capital city were for Inner Brisbane.

Although the number and proportion of inner city residential approvals in Adelaide and Perth are not as substantial, growth in these approvals is also apparent.

DWELLING APPROVALS IN INNER CITY AND CAPITAL CITY

Inner
Melbourne

Capital
Melbourne

Proportion

InnerBrisbane

CapitalBrisbane

Proportion

(no.)

(no.)

%

(no.)

(no.)

%

1987-1988

52

22,556

0.2

1987-1988

46

12,265

0.4

1988-1989

105

26,663

0.4

1988-1989

478

16,972

2.8

1989-1990

134

18,110

0.7

1989-1990

148

13,138

1.1

1990-1991

128

14,315

0.9

1990-1991

71

12,369

0.6

1991-1992

206

17,107

1.2

1991-1992

119

17,619

0.7

1992-1993

243

1,839

1.2

1992-1993

340

20,726

1.6

1993-1994

1,140

22,894

5.0

1993-1994

655

21,995

3.0

1994-1995

1,757

23,098

7.6

1994-1995

1,515

18,968

8.0

1995-1996

978

17,314

5.6

1995-1996

608

12,918

4.7

1996-1997

1,898

21,078

9.0

1996-1997

916

14,822

6.2

1997-1998

1,104

28,152

3.9

1997-1998

1,685

16,798

10.0

1998-1999

2,230

30,614

7.3

1998-1999

466

13,552

3.4

1999-2000

3,453

39,015

8.9

1999-2000

1,078

15,829

6.8

2000-2001

2,958

27,855

10.6

2000-2001

1,514

12,258

12.4

2001-2002

3,873

37,283

10.4

2001-2002

2,357

16,642

14.2

OTHER RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS

Most of the residentialdwelling approvals in inner city areas are for other residential buildings (e.g. semi-detached dwellings and flats, units and apartments) with the majority of these being in buildings of 4 or more storeys. Data for inner cities clearly show a growth in these approvals.

In Inner Sydney there was a marked increase in other residential dwelling approvals from 1992-1993, where approvals rose to 2,551. Since then, building approvals of this type has continued to grow, rising to 5,060 in 2001-2002.Similarily, a rise in other residential approvals in Inner Melbourne occurred in 1993-1994,when they numbered 1,113 rising to 3,821 in 2001-2002.

In Inner Brisbane the first significant increase in other residential dwelling approvals occurred in 1994-1995 where they numbered 1,505. The main increase in other residential approvals in Inner Adelaide has occurred over the last four years.Inner Perth has also shown an increase from 1993-94.

NUMBER OF APPROVALS FOR OTHER RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS IN INNER CITIES

Inner Sydney

Inner Melbourne

Inner Brisbane

Inner Adelaide

Inner Perth

(no.)

(no.)

(no.)

(no.)

(no.)

1987-1988

598

39

38

69

31

1988-1989

850

76

463

118

106

1989-1990

536

102

132

267

106

1990-1991

932

128

71

141

32

1991-1992

310

161

108

148

149

1992-1993

2,551

153

324

157

197

1993-1994

2,292

1,113

640

100

410

1994-1995

4,669

1,737

1,505

220

202

1995-1996

3,406

953

598

103

364

1996-1997

4,790

1,818

900

55

185

1997-1998

4,364

996

1,670

196

226

1998-1999

3,740

2,136

452

336

548

1999-2000

3,463

3,352

1,052

300

693

2000-2001

2,819

2,912

1,496

307

740

2001-2002

5,060

3821

2,318

267

361

STOCK OF DWELLINGS

The table below shows the total stock of dwellings enumerated in the Census of Population and Housing 1991 and 2001 for both inner city areas and capital city statistical divisions. All five of the main capital cities have seen an increase in the proportion of dwelling stock in inner city areas, highlighting residential growth in these inner cities. For example, in 1991 the stock of dwellings in inner Sydney was 5.2% of all dwellings in the Sydney Statistical Division. This rose to 6.2% in 2001.

The proportion of the population residing in inner city areas has also increased in all of the five main capital cities between 1991 and 2001, with the largest proportional growth (0.8 percentage points) occurring in inner Sydney.

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